D.J. Williams is Sparta!

June 8, 2007

D.J. Williams is a warrior from way back…

De La Salle High School is a private, Catholic, all-boys school in Concord, CA. It currently enrolls just over 1,000 students (with roughly 98% of the graduating seniors going on to college). While that’s impressive, this High School is best known as the home of the Spartans football team. The green and silver Spartan motto is “Les Homme De Foi (Men Of Faith),” and it’s hard to see why they won’t have faith.

Their football team holds the record for most consecutive wins for any team (HS or otherwise). That record stands at 151 games without a lose and extends from 1992 to 2003. What was the previous record? Try 72.

D.J. Williams, attended De La Salle in the 90’s, and in Neil Hayes 2003 book When The Game Stands Tall, Hayes (the sportswriter for the local Contra Costa Times) describes some of the qualities that it took to be called Sparta.

In one example, he talks about a questionnaire that accompanied their football applications. The last question of this questionnaire was: “What would you do if you saw your mother running with the football?” If the applicant said “push her out of bounds” the coaches knew the kid was best suited to play offense. If he said “tackle her” the coaches would send him off to play Defense. However, if he applicant answered “knock her head off,” they made a notation that this guy would be a potential special teams player.

What was D.J. Williams answer, you ask? Oh, he actually included a videotape with his application that showed his mother in uniform catching a football… right before her 6’1” 220lb. son knocked the crap out of her! Although that probably qualified him to be a special teams warrior, he ended up started at both RB and LB for De La Salle.

With that level of intensity and will to fight, it’s no wonder he caught John Madden’s attention. Madden actually said D.J. Williams was the only player he had seen who could have gone from high school directly to the pros.

In fact, at the time of his graduation in 1999, he was named USAToday’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“LB – D.J. WILLIAMS, De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), 6-2, 220. Career: Had 312 tackles, including 92 for losses. Caused 12 fumbles and recovered eight. Scored school-record 81 touchdowns in three years. Ran 346 times for 4,276 yards and 64 touchdowns. Had 38 catches for 930 yards and 13 touchdowns. Scored on two kickoff returns, one punt return and one fumble return. Senior year: Had 86 solo tackles, including 37 for losses, and 47 assists while leading team to 12-0 record and national-record 100-game winning streak. Forced five fumbles and recovered three. Ran 170 times for 1.974 yards and 30 touchdowns. Tied school record with 38 touchdowns. Biggest motivator: “I love to compete and win. Every team I’ve been on since I was young was a winner and it’s something you get used to.”

— USAToday 2/25/00

Of course, his career at the University of Miami was no less impressive. He started at FB his freshman year and had 18 rushes for 142 yrds (7.9 avg), 12 passes for 153 yrds (11.9 avg) with two touchdowns. By the next year he was back at LB again as the Hurricanes won the National Championship. His most meaningful contribution came during the Rose Bowl against Nebraska when he forced a critical fumble late in the game.

During this Junior and Senior years, Williams racked up 190 tackles (99 solo), 10 sacks and three forced fumbles. He also made the highlight reels with a stunning 61 yrd run for a touchdown off a fake punt.

D.J. has dominated at every level of this game, but he has been under-used over the last two years in Denver. With his move to the Mike LB slot and his new leadership role on the Defense, I think this year we will finally get to see him obtain glory on the field of battle.

The Spartans will certainly be proud of our new warrior in the middle…